Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Wildflowers in the Garden

The sixth graders have several large garden boxes full of plants....we recently planted tomatoes, hoping that they might bear fruit before the end of the school year. In one of our boxes, the kids tossed wildflower seed....they are now at the beginning stages of blooming....something about the wildflowers intrigue me more than any of our other plants. The ease of planting, the hardiness of the plants themselves, and the tangled, disorganized mass of flowers they produce...all of these are thrilling. So far, we've identified bluebonnets, indian paintbrush, cornflowers, some variety of snapdragon, and some sort of poppy (flourescent orange!)

Second grade--small clay animals, terra cotta, hand-formed. The first time I've attempted modeling with the little ones. Their animals are full of life, slightly vague in species, and totally dear. Definitely will do again in future years.

Fifth-Grade--Our cubist self-portrait prints are going very well. They are excited by the multiple-drop prints with this age group. They're doing great. Most are on the second stage, out of three.

After School art--Georgia O'Keefe--looking at daffodils, making a large tempera painting of the same. There is something very stimulating about making something so small, so magnified.